German Stocks Decline on Libya Disruption; RWE, Porsche Retreat

Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- German stocks dropped for a fourth
straight day, the longest losing streak in more than four
months, as Libya suspended as much as two thirds of its oil
production, sending crude to its highest price in 30 months.

The benchmark DAX Index lost 0.9 percent to 7,130.5 at the
5:30 p.m. close in Frankfurt. The gauge has still advanced 3.1
percent this year amid optimism the global economic recovery is
gathering strength. The broader HDAX Index also retreated 0.9
percent today.

“The tsunami of violence sweeping across oil-rich Middle
East countries is causing another day of selloff in the
markets,” said Anita Paluch, a sales trader at ETX Capital in
London. “In the DAX it is particularly affecting companies
traditionally dependent on oil supplies.”

The VDAX-NEW Index, which measures the cost of using
options as insurance against declines in the DAX, rose to the
highest level since Jan. 10 today.

Loyalists of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi sought to crush
dissent in the capital, Tripoli, as his opponents tightened
their control of eastern cities. The fighting is the most
violent yet seen in six weeks of popular uprisings across the
Middle East and North Africa, which have already unseated
longtime rulers in Tunisia and Egypt.

RWE, Porsche

RWE plummeted 5.2 percent to 49.39 euros, the largest
retreat since April. Recurrent net income, which it uses to
calculate its dividend, will fall from last year’s 3.75 billion
euros ($5.17 billion), the company said. RWE said it plans to
sell assets, reduce spending and extend cost cuts to grapple
with the slump.

Porsche sank 11 percent to 55 euros, the biggest drop in 18
months. A longer-than-expected probe into allegations of share-price manipulation by two former board members will probably
push the merger’s completion into 2012, Porsche said late
yesterday. While the probability of success drops as the process
drags out, Porsche said the combination will still go ahead. The
shares of Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest carmaker, fell 3 percent
to 112.45 euros.

BMW, Daimler

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Daimler AG led a retreat in
European carmakers. The world’s biggest makers of luxury cars
lost 2.2 percent to 57 euros and 1.6 percent to 50.49 euros,
respectively.

Sky Deutschland AG fell 6.9 percent to 2.73 euros.
Germany’s biggest pay-TV broadcaster said its fourth-quarter net
loss widened to 139.4 million euros from a loss of 114 million
euros a year earlier.

Celesio AG jumped 3.2 percent to 19.88 euros as
Handelsblatt reported that Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding Co.
is interested in buying a stake in the German drug wholesaler.

Wirecard Bank AG advanced for the first time this week,
rising 3.6 percent to 11.67 euros. The maker of electronic-payment and risk-management software and China UnionPay Co.
agreed to cooperate in online merchant acquiring services,
allowing the German company to tap a growing market for new
payment methods.